The Influence of the Distribution Function of Ferroelectric Nanoparticles Sizes on Their Electrocaloric and Pyroelectric Properties

We consider a model of a nanocomposite based on noninteracting spherical single-domain ferroelectric nanoparticles (NPs) of various sizes embedded in a dielectric matrix. The size distribution function of these NPs is selected as a part of the truncated Gaussian distribution from minimum to maximum radius. For such nanocomposites, we calculate the dependences of the reversible part of the electric polarization, the electrocaloric (EC) temperature change, and the dielectric permittivity on the external electric field, which have the characteristic form of hysteresis loops. We then analyze the change in the shape of the hysteresis loops relative to the particle size distribution parameters. We demonstrate that the remanent polarization, coercive field, dielectric permittivity maximums, and maximums and minimums of the EC temperature change depend most strongly on the most probable radius, moderately on the dispersion, and have the weakest dependence on the maximum radius of the NP. We calculate and analyze the dependences of pyroelectric figures of merit on the average radius of the NPs in the composite. The dependences confirm the presence of a phase transition induced by the size of the NPs, which is characterized by the presence of a maxima near the critical average radius of the particles, the value of which increases with an increasing dispersion of the distribution function.